Consistency regulator



Sept. 5, 1933. G. F. FRENCH CONSISTENCY REGULATOR Filed April 13. 1932llillov INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 5, 1933 CONSISTENCY REGULATORGeorge F.

Riegel Paper Corporation,

French, Stamford, Conn., assignor to Riegelsville, N. J.,

a corporation of New Jersey Application April-13, 1932. Serial No.604,953

15 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for determining andregulating the viscosity of a fluid, and'while designed specifically forthe automatic regulation of the consistency of paper stock in themanufacture of paper is well adapted for use in any analogous art wherethere is a continuous flow of the fluid to be regulated.

In the manufacture of paper, the pulp or other stock is, or may be, fedto shredders and as it is shredded water is added thereto, and the stockthus started and in aqueous suspension is pumped in stages first fromthe shredder chest to the heaters, then from the beater chest to the Jordans or other refining engines, and then from the Jordan chest to themachine chest and from the latter to the stuff box of the paper machine;and for various practical reasons it is important to know, and toregulate, the consistency of the stock at these several stages.

Numerous automatic consistency regulators of different types haveheretofore been devised, but practical experience with those now on themarket has shown that they are all more or less objectionable becausethey are expensive, or complicated and require undue attention tomaintain,

or are inaccurate and unreliable, or occupy a great deal of space, orcombine several of such undesirable features.

By my present invention I have provided, for the practice of my newmethod of regulation, an apparatus which is simple in construction,efiicient and accurate in its operation, is made up for the most part ofstandard parts or devices, requires little space, and can be assembledand installed at a relatively low cost.

My new regulatory system comprises, broadly stated, the steps of andmeans for causing variations in a characteristic of a material, such forexample as the consistency of a paper stock, to effect correspondingvariations in the compression of a gaseous body like air and thenutilizing such pressure variations to automatically control thecharacteristic of said material. a

One practical embodiment of the invention as applied to thedetermination and regulation of the consistency of paper stock asdelivered from the beater chest to a Jordan engine, and a modificationthereof, are shown, by way of illustration and not of limitation, in theaccompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammaticview of an apparatus, with parts thereof shown in vertical section, inwhich the supply of diluent water to the paper stock is regulated bymeans of a pneumatic valve; and Fig. 2 is a view of parts of the sameapparatus as modified for the use of an electrically-actuated valve tocontrol the supply of diluent water.

Referring first to Figure 1 of the drawing, the

Jordan engine 1, shown by way of example, is fed with stock which, asusual, is pumped from the beater chest (not shown) through the pipe 2 toa head box 3, where it is or may be thinned by the addition of waterthereto, and thence flows through the pipe 4 to the engine. The diluentwater is supplied by pipe 5 equipped with a valve 6 which, as shown, isa pneumatically controlled valve of standard or any suitable type.

From the Jordan the stock is conducted through pipe 7 first to aconstant level and thence in part to a variable level box or chamber,both of which are well known. In the first of these boxes, box 8, thestock, fed to one side thereof, is maintained therein at a constantlevel by a dam or partition wall 9 over which it overflows and theoverflow is discharged through an outlet pipe 10 and thence into theupper end of a pipe 11 and to the Jordan chest (not shown), while aportion of the stock is discharged under constant head end pressurethrough the spout 12 into the box 13 whence it is discharged through anoutlet spout 14 of restricted capacity adapted to maintain within thebox a head varying directly with its consistency, into the upper end ofthe pipe 11.

A diaphragm box 15, of the usual construction, is attached to the lowerend of the box 13, the bottom of the box being cut away, as at 17,

so that the variable head of the stock therein bears directly upon thediaphragm 16 and as its head rises and falls variably compresses the airwithin the diaphragm box.

The interior of the diaphragm box is connected by a. tube 18, in theusual manner, with a controller 19, preferably, as shown, a combinedrecorder and controller which both records the varying pressure of theair within the diaphragm box, due to variations in the head of the stockabove, and acts as a relay to control a valve regulating the passage ofcompressed air from a tube 20 connected with a source of supply (notshown) to the tube 21 connected with the pressure head of thepneumatically controlled valve 6 in the water supply pipe. Any standardtype of controller can be used for the purpose, but I prefer, andrecommend, the recorder-controller known commercially as Stabilog,which, in addition, is equipped with an anti-hunt capillary; and therecording charts used therewith can, if desired,

be calibrated so as to record the consistency, rather than the level, ofthe stock in the variable level box 13.

The operation of the apparatus, which will be obvious from the abovedescription thereof, may be briefly summarized as follows: The head ofstock within the variable level box compresses the air within thediaphragm box and the pressure of this air, which varies as the levelofthe stock rises or falls due to changes in its consistency,

is communicated to the recorder-controller, which records, in the usualmanner, the level and/or consistency of the stock in this box. In casethe consistency of the stock increases and rises in the variable levelbox above a predetermined level, the recorder-controller will open itsvalve to admit more compressed air to the pressure head of the valve 6which will thereupon raise the valve against the action of a spring andadmit more diluent water to the head box of the Jordan, or, if theconsistency decreases and the level of the stock falls, the supply ofcompressed air to the valve 6 will be throttled down, allowing itsspring to close the valve and reduce the supply of diluent water.

The apparatus is a sensitive one and, in prac tical use, has proven veryemcient in maintaining stock at the consistency desired.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 2, the valve 6 which controlsthe supply of diluent water, is operated by a small motor 22, andcompressed air under control of the recorder-controller 19 is suppliedby the tube 21 to the pressure head of a pneumatic switch 23, which inturn controls the circuit wires a, b, c, and d which operate the motor22 in one direction or the other as required; and this electric controlis provided, as shown, with an anti-huntdevice which comprises a mercuryswitch 24, which controls the circuit wire a, carried by an arm 25pivotally attached to a block 26 adjustably mounted upon a rotatablethreaded post 27 and, operatively re lated to the arm 25, a cam 28 whichrotates constantly at slow speed, say, one revolution per minute. Thus,with every revolution of the cam, the mercury switch will be tilted upto close the circuit through the wire a, and the length of the timeduring which the circuit will remain closed may be increased by loweringand decreased by raising the block 26 upon its threaded support.

Accordingly, whenever, under control of the re corder-controller, thepneumatic switch 23 is actuated to close the circuit of the motor 22 toconnect the wire a with either the wire I) or the Wire 0, the motor 22will be operated, to open up or throttle down the valve 6 as the casemay be, during such intervals as the circuit of the wire a may be closedby the mercury switch and so long as that wire is connected with eitherWire 17 or c. If desired, the arm of the recording pen of therecorder-controller may serve, in known manner, as the movable elementof a double-throw switch to directly control the circuits of the motor22, thereby eliminating the pneumatic switch 23.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The method of maintaining substantially constant the viscosity of afluid which comprises causing variations in the viscosity thereof toeffect directly proportionate variations in the head of a columnar bodyof said fluid and utilizing solely the variations in the static pressureof said fluid body due to variations in its head to correct thevariations in theviscosity of the fluid.

2. The method of regulating the viscosity of a fluid which comprisesmaintaining a body of the fluid to be controlled under a head varyingdirectly with and proportionately to its viscosity, causing the variablestatic pressure of said variable head of the fluid to variably compressa fluid body like air, and causing the variable pressure of said fluidbody to automatically effect the regulation of the viscosity of thefluid to be controlled.

3. The method of regulating the consistency of stock suspended in waterwhich comprises maintaining a confined columnar body of aqueoussuspension of stock under a head varying directly with its consistency,causing the static pressure of the variable head of said body tovariably compress a fluid body, and utilizing the variations in thepressure of said fluid body, to automatically control the admission ofwater to said aqueous suspension of stock.

4. Apparatus for maintaining substantially constant a characteristic ofa body of material comprising means for varying the characteristic ofsaid material, means responsive solely to the static pressure of acolumnar body of the material having a head varying directly with and indirect proportion to variations in said characteristic for effectingcorresponding variations in the compression of a fluid body, and meansresponsive to variations in the pressure of said fluid body forcontrolling said means for varying the characteristic of said material.

5. Apparatus of the type described, comprising means for altering theviscosity of a fluid, means for maintaining from a continuous stream ofthe fluid, a body thereof under a head varying directly with itsviscosity, means responsive solely to variations in the static pressureof said body of fluid for effecting corresponding variations in thepressure of a fluid body and means controlled by the varying pressure ofsaid fluid body for controlling said means for altering the viscosity ofthe fluid to be controlled.

6. Apparatus of the type described, comprising means for supplyingvarying quantities of a diluent to a material, means for maintainingfrom a constant stream of the diluent material a confined columnar bodythereof under a head varying directly with its consistency, and meanscontrolled by the varying weight of the variable head of said body ofdiluent material for controlling said means for supplying the diluent tothe material.

7. Apparatus of the type described, comprising means for supplyingvariable quantities of water to a paper stock, means for. maintainingfrom a constant stream of the aqueous suspension of said stock aconfined columnar body thereof under a head varying directly with itsconsistency, means responsive solely to the static pressure of thevarying head of said body of aqueous suspension of stock for effectingvariations in the pressure of a body of air, and means controlled by thevarying pressures of said body of air for controlling the said means forsupplying water to the paper stock.

8. Apparatus of the type described comprising, in combination with meansfor supplying a variable quantity of diluent water to a paper stock, astandpipe, means for feeding to said standpipe under substantiallyconstant pressure a continuous stream of the aqueous suspension ofstock, means for maintaining within the standpipe a head of the aqueoussolution of stock varying with the consistency thereof, means responsiveto variations in the head of the aqueous suspension of stock within thesaid standpipe for efiecting variations in the pressure of a body ofair, and means controlled by such'variations in air pressure forcontrolling the means for supplying the diluent water to the stock.

9. Apparatus of the type described comprising, in combination with asupply of a diluent to a material, a container, means for feeding to thecontainer under a substantially constant head a portion at least of thediluted material adapted to maintain therein a head of such materialvarying according to its consistency, and means including a fluidpressure relay actuated by the variable head of the diluted materialwithin the container for controlling the supply of the diluent.

10. Apparatus of the type described, comprising a water supply pipe, apower-actuated valve controlling the water diluent through the supplypipe, a standpipe, means for feeding to the standpipe under asubstantially constant pressure a portion at least of the stockreceiving the water through said valve, a discharge outlet from thestandpipe of a capacity adapted to maintain a head of stock thereinvarying in height according to its consistency, means for compressing abody of air under the varying head of the stock within the standpipe,and means responsive to changes in the pressure of the air so compressedfor controlling the actuation of the water-controlled valve.

11. Apparatus of the type described comprising a standpipe, means forfeeding thereto under a substantially constant head a portion at leastof the stock the consistency of which is to be regulated, a dischargeoutlet from the standpipe of a capacity adapted to maintain within thestandpipe a head of the stock varying according to its consistency, afluid pressure relay responsive to changes in the head of stock withinthe standpipe, a valve-controlled supply of diluent water for the stock,and means controlled by the fluid pressure relay for controlling thecontrol valve whereby the quantity of diluent water admitted to thestock will be increased whenever the head of stock Within the standpiperises above a predetermined level and will be throttled down when thehead of stock falls below such level.

12. Apparatus of the type described comprising, in combination with apower-actuated valve for regulating the supply of water to a paper stocksuspended in Water, means for maintaining from a continuous stream ofthe diluted stock under subtsantially constant pressure a variable headthereof varying with its consistency, a diaphragm box with diaphragmoperatively connected with and responsive to variations in the variablehead of diluted stock, and a pressure recorder-controller operativelyconnected on one side with the diaphragm box and on the other side withthe power-actuated valve adapted to record the pressure and/orconsistency of the variable head of diluted stock and to effect theactuation of the power-controlled. valve to increase or diminish thesupply of water as required for the desired regulation of theconsistency of the stock.

13. Apparatus of the type described comprising, in combination with apneumatically-actuated valve for regulating the supply of water to paperstock suspended in water, means for maintaining from a continuous streamof the diluted stock under substantially constant, pressure a variablehead thereof varying with its consistency, a diaphragm box withdiaphragm operatively connected with and responsive to variations in thevariable head of the diluted stock, and a fluid pressure relayoperatively connected on one side with the diaphragm box and on theother side with the pneumatically actuated valve adapted to effect theactuation of the pneumatic valve to increase or decrease the supply ofdiluent water as required for the desired regulation of the consistencyof the stock. 1

14. Apparatus of the type described comprising, in combination with anelectrically-actuated valve for regulating the supply of water to paperstock suspended in water, electric circuits for controlling andoperating the motor, means for maintaining from a continuous stream ofthe diluted paper stock a body thereof under a head varying with itsconsistency, means responsive to variations in the head of said body ofdiluted paper stock for efiecting corresponding variations in thepressure of a fluidbody, and means controlled by the varying pressure ofsaid fluid body for controlling the circuits of the motor.

15. Apparatus of the type described comprising, in combination with anelectrically-actuated valve for regulating the supply of diluent waterto paper stock, electric circuits for controlling and operating themotor, ,a switch for controlling the motor circuits, means formaintaining from a continuous stream of the diluted paper stock a bodythereof under a head varying with its consistency, a diaphragm box withdiaphragm operatively connected with and responsive to variations in thevariable head of the diluted stock, and a pressure recorder-controlleroperatively connected on one side with the diaphragm box and on theother side with the switch adapted to record the pressure and/orconsistency of the diluted stock and to actuate the switch to effect theoperation of the motor to increase or decrease the supply of diluentwater as required for the desired regulation of the consistency of thepaper stock.

GEORGE F: FRENCH.

